More and more options are available for communicating information between parties. A plurality of communication media exist. Of course, there is traditional wireline communication, available over telephone networks. Additionally, newer technologies provide enhanced capability for communications, e.g., wireless communication capabilities enable mobile communications and optical fiber capabilities provide increased transmission throughput. At the same time that the number of communication media has grown, the number of different types of services available on each media has also grown. It has been common for various transmission techniques to be adapted to customers' needs and to offer new techniques for exchanging information along the networks. In addition to offering new services, new billing schemes have also been proposed both to encourage the use of various communication media, and in the name of competition between providers of similar types of services.
One area in which there has been a continued amount of growth has been in the wireless communication area. Wireless communication has enabled parties to have mobility and still maintain a link to a communications system whereby they can be easily contacted by others or can easily initiate contact with others. These mobile communication networks have found greater favor in our ever-increasingly mobile society where business requirements demand that people who are communicating be accessible wherever they may be. These networks provide voice communication, data communication and messaging capabilities, for example.
Mobile communication systems rely on wireless communications between a mobile communications device, such as a wireless telephone or data set, and one or more of a plurality of radio base stations which typically form the transceivers for respective cell sites. These base stations communicate with mobile devices over the airwaves using a plurality of different types of protocols. A given wireless service provider may have multiple base stations within a given geographic region, thereby creating a wireless service footprint for that provider in that geographic region. The base stations are tied by wireline communications to a switching center, often referred to as a mobile switching center (MSC), which provides a gateway to a wireline telephone network such as the public switched telephone network (PSTN). In the wireless communication environment, the holder of a wireless communication device can initiate a communication by initiating an over-the-air message to a base station that serves the cell site in which the wireless device is presently located. The base station then operates through the MSC and the PSTN to establish the appropriate process for a call set up to the intended destination of the communication. The intended destination could be a wireline phone or data mode or another wireless apparatus. That second wireless apparatus could reside in the same wireless area as the initiating party, it could be in a different geographic location but serviced by the same wireless service provider as that servicing the initial party, or it could be located in a different geographic region that is serviced by a different wireless service provider.
A block diagram of a known arrangement of a wireless communication system interacting with a wireline communication system is illustrated in FIG. 1. In this arrangement, three wireless communication service regions, 110, 120 and 130 are each shown coupled to a different local exchange carrier (LEC) within a PSTN 150. These three wireless services regions could be geographically disparate. For example, region 110 could be in the New York City area, region 120 could be in the Boston area, and region 130 could be in the Chicago area. Furthermore, the service providers for the respective regions can be different. For example, service provider A could service region 110, service provider B could service region 120, and service provider C could service region 130. For purposes of describing a particular series of services of interest below, however, it will be assumed that the service provider for regions 120 and 130 is the same. Each of the wireless service regions includes at least one MSC (114, 124, or 134) and one or more base stations (e.g., 111, 112, 121, 122, 131, 132). Only one mobile communication device, 125, is shown in the drawing figure although it should be understood that many wireless devices may be active in each of the regions at the same time. The PSTN can be thought of as being constituted by a plurality of LECs, for example, 151 to 154. These LECs may be interconnected with one another via one or more inter-exchange carriers (IXC) such as 155, 156 and 157. The couplings shown in the drawing figure are representative of samples of connections that might be made. Typically, the PSTN includes a multitude of LECs and IXCs with various connections capable between them so as to establish connectivity between one LEC and another. The LECs at either end of a particular call set up can be associated with different companies, for example, different Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs). Similarly, different interexchange carriers (for example AT&T) can provide connectivity between the respective LECs.
Thus, in one example of a wireless communication it would be possible for a party at telephone 101 to initiate a telephone call to the mobile device 125. The call set up would be performed on a signaling network known as signaling system 7 (SS7) which is not shown in the present drawings. This signaling network allows for control signals to be sent for establishing the call set-up without taking up communication bandwidth along the connection between 101 and mobile device 125. A call would then be set up from LEC 152 to LEC 154 via inter-exchange carrier 157. Since the call is directed to a mobile device, once it is determined that the mobile device is in region 120 via well known mobile device tracking techniques, a call set up would continue to MSC 124 which in turn would establish a connection to base station 121. Finally, over-the-air contact would be made with mobile device 125 if it is on and registered with base station 121. Similarly, a connection can be established from mobile station 125 to telephone 101 or 102 utilizing similar technology and the same control channels for call set-up.
It is also known in the art to use a technique known as over-the-air activation (OAA) to “turn-on” a mobile phone for a particular service provider. In particular, if a phone is purchased or leased from a given wireless service provider, then the phone must be registered with the wireless service provider so it knows who the subscriber is for billing purposes and so it can capture the subscriber's preferences for such things as long distance service provider and the type of rate schedule which should be applied to the subscriber. Typically, when the phone is leased or purchased a wireline communication is established via the PSTN to a wireless services administrative center such as that shown as 180 in FIG. 1. Alternatively, a registration operation could be initiated via a data connection over a wide area network such as the Internet. A representative for the wireless service provider initiates a registration sequence in which information is received about the wireless device in question and about the wireless services for which the user is subscribing. The administrative center, having completed the gathering of information for registration can then initiate an over-the-air activation process by which roaming schedules and information about network accessibility can be transmitted to the device in question over-the-air. For example, the over-the-air information can include information for an intelligent roaming database. This information can then be stored in memory in the wireless communication device for later use in establishing communications, whether those communications occur with the wireless device within the wireless service provider's footprint or within the footprint of another provider with whom the initial provider has some “roaming” agreement. For example, if mobile device is moved to region 110, which is serviced by a different provider, it is considered to be roaming. It will be permitted access only if the service providers of regions 110 and 120 have entered into a roaming agreement. Such an agreement may require that the home provider pay a fee for the right of its subscribers to roam.
While the above arrangement is known in the art, these arrangements are somewhat limited to the degree that they facilitate registering a given mobile device or subscriber to a new service, particularly where access to that service needs to be or ought to be limited based on certain parameters associated with the device. An arrangement which takes into account this need would be beneficial.